}
427
It has been suggested that this might be accomplish-
ed by taking the collection of the Opium Revenue into
our own hands. Hongkong is rightly jealous of the sta-
tus as an absolutely free port to which its commercial
prosperity is so largely due. The creation of bonded
warehouses, and insistence that all Opium imported into
the Colony shall be deposited therein would be certain
infringement upon that status; but the convenience of
admitting a foreign preventive service would he immeas-
urably greater.
Ju
That is, then, the solution which is proposed.
(3) The Hongkong Government would, presumably, in such
case, undertake to collect as an export tax, and hand
over to the Chinese Authorities, (after deducting the
cost of collection) the recognised amount which the
latter ought properly to collect as an import duty on
their own soil. The service would be great; and the
consideration required should be the complete removal
of the Chinese Customs and all its accessories beyond
British Limits.
It would be desirable, as a corollary, that the
proposed Boundary Line of the new Concession should be
rectified. That which has been indicated appears arbit-
rary and unsatisfactory, in that it presents no natural
division; wheras a good natural frontier exists in a
range of hills a little farther to the North. The ex-
tension would be slight; and the change would be an ad-
vantage to the Chinese not less than to ourselves, 38
passes through hills can be more easily protected against
smugglers than the open frontier which was at first pro-
8
8